New Milford man charged in firearm thefts after breaking into neighbor's home

By Nanci G. Hutson, staff writer

Published 12:48 am, Tuesday, September 1, 2009

NEW MILFORD -- A Sherwood Drive man with a lengthy criminal history was arraigned this week on burglary and firearm theft charges after police spotted him coming from behind a neighbor's house he is accused of burglarizing, according to an arrest affidavit.

Michael John Gillece, 23, was arraigned Monday in Bantam Superior Court on charges of first-degree burglary, three counts of stealing a firearm, and three counts of carrying a pistol without a permit. He was originally arrested Friday night and charged with 15 separate offenses.

Earlier this week, police said they had no information on the arrest because the investigation is ongoing.

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In an arrest affidavit, police said they were alerted Friday that Gillece had been spotted downtown with another man carrying at least two handguns, a black .22-caliber pistol and a black 9mm semi-automatic handgun.

Police familiar with Gillece due to his criminal past -- arrests and convictions on burglary, larceny, failure to appear in court and violation of probation -- were informed that he was traveling in a black Chevy Blazer, according to the affidavit.

Within 15 minutes, police found the Blazer just a few houses away from where Gillece lives on Sherwood Drive, the affidavit said.

The driver of the Blazer, identified as Benjamin Williams, 24, of Goodhill Road, was spotted waiting for about 30 minutes before Gillece came from behind the neighbor's house, the affidavit said.

The two then headed to Sunny Valley Road, where police stopped them. When Gillece got out of the car, an officer spotted two semi-automatic handguns in plain sight between the center console and the passenger seat, the document said.

A further search of the car found a third, stainless steel, .357 handgun hidden inside a red cooler. In addition, the police found a cutlery knife, a handheld police scanner tuned to the local police frequency, a laptop computer, assorted other computer items and jewelry, the affidavit said.

At first, Gillece told police the guns belonged to a friend, but later he confessed to breaking into the neighbor's house and stealing the guns and other items valued at about $2,000, according to the court document.

Gillece said he had been hired to mow the lawn at the neighboring home and broke in through an open back window, the document said.

Court records Wednesday showed no arrest to date for Williams in relation to this crime. He is being held on $50,000 bond -- lowered from $250,000 -- pending an Aug. 27 appearance in Bantam Superior Court.